World's Most Depressing and Un-Interesting Post

We have a GeoThermal Water Furnace in our house. It is the A/C, heat and it all heats and runs off the hot water tank. When they built our house, the gov't gave the builders a huge tax credit to put the GeoThermal Units in the house. It cost about $24,000.00 back in 1991 when the house was built. We bought the house in 1994 (and only paid about twice the amount for the house that the geothermal initially cost) and have had to have it worked on almost every summer. The heat works fine, but we have trouble with the A/C. Every time it costs an absolute fortune and no one really understands the darn thing, so they spend about an hour standing by the closet staring at it say, "Huh!" and "Oh!" while they try to figure out how the darn thing works and how it all hooks up together. Meanwhile, I am being charged $150.00 an hour to hear, "Huh!" and "Oh!".

We were planning on having it replaced this winter while it ws cooler and we didn't need it so much. We have a very tight house and rarely even need to run the heat. But, the whole Claritin D nightmare happened and we spent about $10,000 on medical bills and tests. So, now we are just now looking at having the unit replaced. On Thursday we got one estimate for $5,400.00, plus we need an electrician to come run 220 in the attic, which is an additional cost. Friday morning I discovered the ill fated waterleak and thought it was coming from under the sink. Turns out it was actually the hot water heater. The Plumber that came on Friday didn't get here until 4:55 and said he would just have to turn off the hot water until Monday and he would be back to replace it for $1,400.00. I thought that sounded like a lot, so I called Lowe's just to see how much a tank costs. $239.00. Just as I said "Thank you," the guy says, "And, we install too," So, we truck it down to Lowe's and explain the whole GeoThermal thing and he says, "It shouldn't be a problem," (just like the Lowe's paint guy that matches the pain to match the giant purple stuffed animal in that Lowe's paint commercial!) We schedule installation and delivery for Saturday. Saturday the guy arrives, opens the closet door and says, "Huh!". Shit.

He looked at it for nearly two hours, plus he called in his boss to look at it. Finally they determine thay cannot do it due to the connections and some plastic pipes. I start to cry, because I am tired of strange men in my house and high estimates. Then they say that they can do it next week through their company, but not through Lowe's because Lowe's has a lot of rules about what they can and can't do because people are "sue happy" right now. So, the say they will call on Monday with an estimate. Meanwhile, I have the other plumber scheduled to come fix it, but he only glanced at it and quoted a price without realizing how complicated it would be. And, these guys are going to schedule it. And I've already paid Lowe's $800.00 for soemthing that didn't get done!

So, they leave and here I am, two days later, still without hot water. The A/C is set very high so it only comes on very occassionally because it has to pump wter through the system to work properly and there's no water to pump so the pump would burn out if I left it on. The closet still has wet carpet which I will have to cut out. The house is siting at 75% humidity right now. INSIDE! And I have two big plastic tubs of wet smelly towels that I need to wash, but I only have cold water. And I have to go buy a dehumidifier and it is pouring rain outside and I am terribly grumpy and so ready to get my house back to normal.

Oh yes, and yesterday was our Wedding Anniversary. Was I in a good mood to enjoy it? Uh, no!